Under the Deciduous Trees
by Gilly Goldworthy
Summary: Jareth tries to win Sarah's Heart. Jareth haunts her dreams, forcing Sarah back into the Labyrinth as he tries to circumvent her barriers preventing the love they could share. --R&R! even if you don't like it!--
1. Meetings in the Dark

Sarah peered above her through the forest canopy as she walked beneath its towering trees. Her mind was wheeling, her thoughts consumed by something she could not envision, something to which she had not the will to resist. She stumbled forward, until she could go no further, and came to rest at a moss covered fallen log. She lay down, her arms outstretched, her hair flowing about her face, like a pale spring rose engulfed in a sea of entwining vines of dark auburn. Her breast began to rise and fall with the steady slowing of her breath, as though there were some outside force controlling her, willing her to take in air slowly, and then let it pass her lips like a sigh on the wind. She closed her eyes, and fell into darkness. Everything was dancing; she was spiraling down into a deep encompassing sleep.  
  
Images flashed before her eyes of people from her past, but one came brighter, and yet, somehow darker, than the others. A man, dressed all in gray, with tight revealing clothing. She could see him now, here, a leg swinging to and fro, there, the other one, sitting dangerously, a hand gently laid upon its surface. The man stared into her eyes with a kind of intensity she could only begin to understand. Sarah could feel her heartbeat quicken as this man from her past looked deep into her eyes, staring straight into her soul. He stood up, spraying the light coming from inside the house into various rays, which reflected on the dawning dew resting peacefully on each pedal of grass. His shadow seemed to stretch all the way out to Sarah's resting body, as he whispered her name...  
  
"Sarah..."  
  
The sound came to her faint at first, but then swelling with sound as it came closer, and closer. She opened her eyes, lifting her head from the ground, and realizing she was no longer beneath the great canopy of trees under which she last remembered herself being. She could hear a thin trickle of water nearby, a faint buzzing sound came to her ears, and she could hear the flutter of a bird, stirring with the morning light. She pushed herself onto her unsteady feet. She knew this place; she had been there before. This place, this labyrinth, a shadow of her past, come back to visit her present.  
  
"So it was him" She thought, "I thought I would never see this place again..."  
  
She walked up a stream she had heard trickling in the distance, remembering that fateful day she had met her dear old friend. A tear came to her eye as she reached the great doors leading into the maze. Once large and imposing, they now were broken and overgrown.  
  
"What has happened to this place?" she wondered, stepping over the sad remnants of the gates. She turned to her right, remembering vividly the long hard trip she had taken between these walls all those years ago, but why, why was she here again?  
  
"I brought you here Sarah."  
  
A deep, entrancing voice filled the air around her.  
  
"You know why you are here, I gave you a choice all those long years ago Sarah, a choice to rule with me..."  
  
"I chose to run my own life. I saved my brother Toby, when you would have had him for yourself." Sarah exclaimed, looking of a source of the voice.  
  
"It was never Toby that I wanted Sarah. Look at my kingdom, look at the travesty it has come to be since you left me."  
  
Sarah ducked to avoid an overhanging vine, long since deprived of the life that once flowed through its roots.  
  
"Where is everyone?" She asked.  
  
"This place can only exist as long as those that dwell within its walls have faith in the land they come from. When you left, everyone left with you, dwelling forever in your heart, they could no longer hold onto this world anymore." The voice paused, "long have I desired to look upon your face..."  
  
Suddenly, a shape appeared, shrouded in a mist of glittering fog. An orb floated into view, hovering in the air before Sarah's face, an image twirling within it. Sarah stared at it, mesmerized, but broke her gaze when she felt the ground beneath her begin to dissipate, replaced by the hard wood floor of a ballroom.  
  
"No!" She yelled out, "I told you, you have no power over me! You have no power over me!" She screamed, her throat becoming hoarse. She pushed her way through a throng of people, trying to escape the dim space. "You are not going to win Jareth." She pushed past a man wearing a dark grey cloak, framed with black feathers. He had a elongated beak-like mask, the handle being a long thin claw. "If the goblins chose to leave your kingdom after I left, it is only because you are such a retched man"  
  
Suddenly, an arm shot out of the crowd, grasping Sarah at the hip, and pulling her toward the source of the limb. The masked man took Sarah by the hand, and began to move her around the dance floor. A low, haunting song flowed gently from every corner of the room, entrancing Sarah as her body matched the movements of the mans hips. Slowly she began to relax, letting the beat of the music to guide her across the floor, quashing the little voice in her head that screamed at her not to trust him. She moved delicately as a ballet dancer, swaying back and forth to the rhythem of the music. The man took her hand and spun her around and around, in a dizzying turrent of movement, making her delirious with the succulent scent of his breath as his mouth brushed against her cheek, placing a single kiss upon the soft surface. 


	2. Waking Dreams

Sarah awoke, the rays of the moon caressing her cheek. She thought she could feel the kiss he had given her. She raised a hand, touching the spot with her fingertips. She was shaking, but whether that was from the cold, or from the experience she had just had, she couldn't tell. She stood, removing the leaves, which clung to her hair. When she pulled her hand back, a single black feather was in the palm of her hand. She stared at it, resting there. "It was real..." she whispered.   
  
A shadow moved in the trees above her, and Sarah decided she needed to get back home. "Merlin! Merlin where are you?" She peered through the trees, looking for her dog. "He must have gone home..."   
  
She began to make her way through the trees, using the light of the moon to guide her steps. Soon, she was breaking the edge of the forest, and crossing the park leading to her house. She walked into the front door, making her way past the living room to the staircase leading upstairs. She began to climb the stairs, her socks rubbed against the carpet, creating static electricity, which revealed itself as she reached for the doorknob to Toby's room, causing her to pull her hand back with a short sudden snap. "Ouch!" Then, rubbing her hand, Sarah pushed the door open.  
  
"Toby?" She didn't know why she bothered going in there at night. Her little brother was there, of course, she knew Jareth would never dare to take him again, but she was there, every evening, without fail, checking that he was still in his bed. It had been three years since Toby was taken, he was now four, but still he slept with Lancelot, the teddy bear Sarah had given him when they had escaped the ominous walls of the Labyrinth. She quietly left the room, hearing the latch on the door click as it closed.   
  
Sarah made her way down the hallway, crossing by her parents' room. They had gone out again this night. Sarah's mother had not believed her when she tried to explain what had happened in the Labyrinth. She'd become rather impatient really, and told Sarah that she needed to grow up, and stop living in these childish fantasies. Sarah's mother was always trying to get Sarah a boyfriend, she thought that it was wrong for a girl of Sarah's age not to be dating, but for some reason, Sarah always had this feeling of strong discomfort whenever she was around these boys, though she could never really put her finger on the reason for why she felt this way.  
  
She slumped into her bedroom, crossing to the far side, and collapsing onto her bed. She looked at the ceiling, thinking over what had happened to her in the forest. Come to think of it, she couldn't remember why she had been in the forest in the first place. It felt to her as though some unforeseen force had driven her there. She remembered the kiss, and raised her hand, once again, to her face, touching the spot, which still tingled as though something magical had left its mark there. Suddenly, Sarah began to swoon, feeling exhausted from the ordeal she had experienced this evening. She sat back in her pillows and slowly drifted into a deep slumber.) 


	3. The Perils of the Labyrinth

Sarah rushed past a decaying vine, which left small thin red line that crossed right through the spot where Jareth had kissed her. She was running down an alleyway, which went on and on, ceasing never to stop. She paused, resting an arm on the cold, glittering bricks, which towered beside her, trying to catch her breath. She turned around, peering behind her, breathing hard. "I think I lost him..." She muttered, and then collapsed onto the ground, tears brimming her eyes. "Oh, it's just not fair! I beat him once already, this must be against the rules."  
  
"No, it isn't fair Sarah." A small glowing orb floated close to Sarah's side, hovering in the air like an eagle ready to dive. As it bobbed up and down, Sarah rose to her feet, using the wall for support.  
  
"Get away from me Jareth," She declared defiantly, "you have no power over me."  
  
"The words have lost their meaning to you at some point m'dear. For it is quite obvious that statement is no longer true." The orb began to spin, slowly at first, but then gathering velocity as it began to encircle around Sarah's body making it impossible for her to move. "There is something in your heart that allows me to be near you, but something in your mind repels me yet. But it is only a matter of time." The shapely form of the man called Jareth appeared, once again shrouded in mist.  
  
"Why do you not show yourself to me clearly?" Sarah asked, stretching out her arm to test the solidness of the barrier preventing her escape. Her hand was at once struck with the orb, forcing her to pull her hand back quickly.  
  
"Have you not listened to me Sarah?" The voice began to move closer as the form approached. A pair of piercing eyes were just visible, one, blue like the ocean, deep cerulean in color as the sky, the other, a dark hazel color, resembling the earth. "I've already told you Sarah, your leaving me has been my downfall. I feel neither breath nor life. I do not have a corporeal form, I am what you see, a feeble form of the King I once was, nothing more than a vapor of mist. When you left, you took the very essence of my Kingdom with you, the Goblins, your... friends..." The shape stopped moving. "But Sarah that is not all you took. You took a part of me with you. I offered you a chance to rule Sarah, to be queen at my side!"  
  
"Yeah! And all you wanted was my baby brother for your own!" She scowled at Jareth, glancing around for any way she could break the barrier holding her in place.   
  
Jareth's form took out another glowing globe, and sent it floating toward Sarah. Inside, the image of Toby became clear, curled in his bed, with Lancelot under his arm.   
  
"What are you playing at?" Sarah glared as she spotted a rotting log near her foot, and began to lower her arms to reach it. "You better not touch him Jareth, so help me! You will regret it for the rest of your life! Keep your filthy hands off of him."  
  
The image in the globe disappeared, replaced by Sarah's face. "It is not Toby that I want Sarah"  
  
Sarah reached the log, and dragged to toward her. She picked it up off of the ground, and swung it, bringing it directly in the path of the spinning orb holding her in place, and knocking it away down the alley. "You will not have me Jareth. Your words are nothing but poison, and I will not let you bite me." She stepped away from the wall, and at the same time, she woke up, sweating, the sheets of her bed a tangled mess.  
  
(TBCT) 


	4. Forbidden Passions

Her hands were shaking. She tried to stand, but found her legs would not support her, as her knees trembled with her weight. She sat once more upon her bed, staring down at her hands as they trembled. She raised her hand, remembering the texture of the log as she swung it around, knocking the glowing sphere out of its hazardous path. She shuddered, remembering Toby's image in the glass.  
  
"Toby..." She whispered, and then, gathering strength, she lifted herself off of the bed and hobbled out of the room.  
  
The door opened, hinges squeaking, as a line of light appeared entering the room, the source being the illumination from the hallway. Toby's small form was visible in the feeble light. She sighed, and closed the door, pausing to lean against the wall in order to rest a moment. She saw the orb again, this time, it was her own reflection mirrored in its core. As much as Sarah tried to avoid thinking of it, her thoughts returned to the night she had danced with Jareth in that grand ballroom, at the height of his power. She remembered being entranced, but the feeling of utter ecstasy had never evaporated from her mind. She remembered hearing his voice as they danced, being not two separate creatures, but one, moving to the beat of the music, his arm draped across her waist, their hands clutching.  
  
Sarah shook her head; her heart was racing. She knew she shouldn't be thinking of him, not now. She moved down the hallway, her strength returning, and climbed down the stairs to the family room. Here, she took a seat on the couch, and grabbed the remote, hoping for some source of a diversion. She flipped through the channels, finally stopping when she reached a re-run of an old episode of The Three Stooges.   
  
"There." Sarah said happily, "This'll keep me occupied."  
  
But she had seen this episode many times before, and it wasn't long before she was no longer processing the dialogue, and her mind began to wander. She thought she heard the sound of wings fluttering outside the window, but upon turning her head she noticed nothing was there. When she turned back around, however, there was a man standing in the doorway.  
  
"We meet again Sarah." The fuzzy image of Jareth crossed the room, pacing around the place where Sarah sat.   
  
Sarah noticed she could not bring herself to speak. She also noticed that a change had come over the room. It was not really her family room anymore. The shape was right, and position of the door in relation to her was the same, but the couch had disappeared, replaced by a bed, covered in black and gray sheets. Sarah's first instinct was to jump up, but something was holding her back, some invisible force, driving her to stay where she was. The room had become dim, and she could barely make out Jareth's shape, which was very difficult to see when the lights were brighter.   
  
"What do you wish of me Jareth? I defied you. You have no right to be here."  
  
An arm was placed around Sarah's shoulders and the bed depressed beside her as Jareth took a seat. "Sarah," Jareths' voice had become but a whisper, but Sarah could feel his hot, sweet breath upon her neck, as she stared defiantly forward. "You called me here. What you saw in your mind, I can see clear as day in my own." Sarah slowly became unable to avoid Jareths' eyes, as his dulcet voice intoxicated her. "Why do you deny what could have been? I know you feel it..." His hand caressed her cheek. "the connection..."  
  
Sarah lifted her hand, placing it on top of Jareths', closing her eyes. "I remember..." her voice cracked, her heart was beating feverishly again, but there was something else too... something inside of her that told her she needed to break away. "I remember..." she paused again, "Toby..." she whispered the last word.   
  
Sarah raised her head. "No. Jareth, no. It is not meant to be!" She was crying now. "You have no power over me! You shouldn't have any power over me. You can't have power over me. I... I..." She tore her hand away, leaping from the mattress, only to find herself alone, once more, in the family room. 


	5. Realization

Sarah wiped the tears that had been streaming down her cheeks as she looked around, confused by the sudden change in her surroundings. She dropped to her knees as another bout of sobs overwhelmed her, this time they came out as great, dry, heaving cries of distress, which took the wind from her lungs. After a few moments, the tears would no longer come, and Sarah leaned her back against the couch to catch her breath, and her bearings.   
  
She felt terrible, as though she had made a terrible mistake. But she also could not tell if what she was feeling were true emotions, or more spells and tricks from the Goblin King. She closed her eyes and lifted her hand to her face once more, reminiscing Jareth's hot breath and gentle touch upon her neck and shoulders. She hunched over, placing her head between her knees, folding her arms above her head, to try to understand what had happened.   
  
"I came so close to giving in..." She muttered to herself. "I can't believe I almost... almost..." She closed her eyes again, pushing back the tears she could feel coming on. Why did she feel so terrible? She knew Jareth only wanted one thing, power. Power to control her, to make her his slave. But she also sensed there was another motive to his unyielding perusal of her... one of a complete and totally different nature. And she knew that there was a passion in her heart, which would not let her forget him, and move on. She had come to realize this suddenly, as she sat there in the dark room, with the television, now sporting an old rerun of Happy Days, casting flickering lights and shadows upon the walls.  
  
"I can't move on." Sarah whispered, "I can't move on because... because...", but she couldn't bring herself to utter the last part of the sentence. Memories flooded back, chasing after Toby in the Labyrinth, facing all the obstacles Jareth threw at her to make it to the Goblin city and face him one on one. It was the way it had to be. But she was remembering another aspect of the battle, which had managed to be overlooked. What was it Jareth had been telling her... as she tried to reach Toby in that peculiar room of stairs. The tune began to flow once more through her head,   
  
"How you turn my world  
  
You precious thing.  
  
You starve and near exhaust me.  
  
Everything I've done,  
  
I've done for you.  
  
I move the stars for no one.  
  
You've run so long.  
  
You've run so far.  
  
Your eyes can be so cruel,  
  
Just as I can be so cruel,  
  
Oh I do believe in you.  
  
Yes I do.  
  
Live without your sunlight.  
  
Love without your heartbeat.  
  
I... I...  
  
Can't.. live.. within.. you...  
  
I can't live within you  
  
I...I..Can't live within you"  
  
"Oh my God..." She could see him now, after she had said the one line that had always escaped her memory, falling, his white clothes he had worn that day billowing about his body as his world collapsed. "Jareth..." She whispered his name, as tears once more filled her eyes. 


	6. Jareth's Peril

An hour passed while Sarah sat upon the sofa thinking about days that passed long ago. She thought about all of her encounters with the Goblin King. It was so clear to her now. She had missed it on that beautiful starry night in the ballroom.

"It was Jareth with me that night…" a hush came over her voice, the sentence was but a whisper. "It was Jareth… oh… oh God, what have I done. He only wanted to love me, and I've pushed him away again."

It had been so long, such a long time. She had been so focused on saving Toby from a horrible fate she had missed all the signals.

Sarah arose from her seat

"As well I should have!" she exclaimed, "I was just a teenager!"

She crossed the room, and stood in the doorway, resting her head on the doorframe, she once again raised her hand to her cheek. She could feel the scabbed line, and she traced it with a finger. She could hear his voice, repeating over and over in her head.

"Your eyes can be so cruel... just as I can be so cruel… oh I do believe in you…"

"Oh Jareth… would that I could tell you what I now realize. But… no… no… I can't… regardless of how I am feeling… there's no escaping the Goblin King, he will always be a part of you, and it is he that I defy. Not… not you… Jareth…" Sarah whispered his name with a reverence rarely spoken, and a shiver flew down her spine. She did not know what fate befell Jareth, but she could see clearly now, the difference between her interactions with the power hungry Goblin King, and the love struck Jareth. Toby's danger was a fabrication of the Goblin King's, but that wonderful ballroom was Jareth's attempt to communicate to her. With the fall of the Goblin King's empire, Jareth must be once again gaining strength. But in defying the Goblin King, she defied Jareth.

But why has he returned now? This was a question she knew only one person could answer, but the prospect of facing him again was dreadful, but strangely exhilarating and thrilling at the same time, knowing now what she did not know just hours earlier.

She moved upstairs to her own room, and slowly entered, and crossed to the window. She opened up the curtains, and unfastened the windows, allowing them to swing outward. As a light breeze began to ruffle the curtains, she took a seat at her vanity. She picked up a brush, and as she began to pull it through her long brown hair, she remembered all of her friends coming to visit her in celebration of her victory against the Goblin King. She could see them now, Ludo, Hoggle, Sir Didymus. She could see Him too, but his image was darker, and more blurry than the rest, and even so, it seemed as though his image was in her room at that very moment, more than a mere image from her mind. Sarah turned around.

"Jareth..."


End file.
